There’s a difference between fan-crafted T-shirts and a competitor using
your intellectual property, however. Anheuser-Busch sent the offending
brewer a cease-and-desist message—and earned kudos in the process.

Instead of a plain letter, Anheuser-Busch sent a scroll, read out loud by a
town crier. The document’s delivery, as seen in a Facebook post on Modist
Brewery’s Facebook page, is impeccable:

In the document, Anheuser-Busch mentions its trademark in a humorous
way—and then offers the infringing brewer two Super Bowl tickets:

Dear friend of the Crown, Modist Brewing Company. Congratulations on the
launch of your new beer, Dilly Dilly Mosaic Double IPA! Let it be known
that we believe any beer shared between friends is a fine beer indeed. And
we are duly flattered by your loyal tribute. However, “Dilly Dilly” is the
motto of our realm, so we humbly ask that you keep this to a
limited-edition, one-time-only run. This is by order of the king.
Disobedience shall be met with additional scrolls, then a formal warning,
and finally, a private tour of the Pit of Misery. Please send a raven,
letter or electronic mail to let us know that you agree to this request.
Also, we will be in your fair citadel of Minneapolis for the Super Bowl,
and would love to offer two thrones to said game for two of your finest
employees to watch the festivities and enjoy a few Bud Lights. On us. Yours
truthfully, Bud Light.

According to The Growler Magazine, the owners had an idea they would be getting a message from Bud Light
after they found out “Dilly Dilly” had already been trademarked as a
slogan.

“But then we said, ‘Screw it, let’s see what happens.’ And that’s what
happens,” Kale Anderson told the magazine.

The brewery’s lawyer, Jeff O’Brien, told the Star Tribune Friday evening
that he has seen plenty of cease-and-desist letters, but nothing like this.

“There’s so many brewery names and beer names out there, and we try to
resolve it short of suing each other,” O’Brien said. “They did it in a
funny way and protected their mark. I thought it was a really cool way of
handling it.”

After the cease-and-desist notice was shared on social media, Bud Light’s
team responded in a similar manner befitting one in the “Dilly Dilly”
court:

Protecting your brand is paramount, but you can do it in ways that further
promote your creative ideas—the same genius that won you popularity in the
first place.

Both Anheuser-Busch and Netflix allowed the offending creations to continue
for a limited time, showing largesse from large corporations to small
businesses who were vastly outmatched. This can show that your organization
values consumer creativity and encourages engagement, while still
protecting your trademarks.

Anheuser-Busch’s response also proves that even complex communications such
as legalese don’t have to go the way of complicated sentences and jargon to
get the point across. PR pros would do well to keep this in mind when
crafting that next press release or more corporate website copy.